Ever since Pam met Grandma Belle, she has gone up to the rooftop almost every day. She has enjoyed raising plants and watched them grow. Her mother had brought her to Gotham Central Park before but she was too little to remember any detail of the park's gardens. But, she thought, Grandma Belle's garden was much better. She had a hand in its continuing creation. This is what she liked best. That and Grandma Belle was great company.
Aside from gardening, Pam likes to listen to Grandma Belle's stories. She has so many stories from her childhood, the war, her husband and children. They were all interesting and touching. The only stories she doesn't seem to want to tell are how she got into this neighborhood. From what Pam could get from her stories was that her family was rather affluent. Her husband's ancestors held a lot of land shares in Gotham. She should be well off and living in a cozy suburban home but for some reason she chose to live in this dingy neighborhood. Pam thought it best not to ask that question now.
In the meantime, her self-esteem has improved and so has her grades. Some of her bully classmates still tease and victimize her but she doesn't mind them as much anymore. Anyway, if push comes to shove there's always Grandma Belle.
The old woman also enjoyed the girl's company. Because she had been alone for a very, very long time, it felt refreshing to unload many years worth of loneliness. She sees Pam as her adopted granddaughter. She took it her duty to care and protect her as Pam's mother never ever seems to be around.
One day, Pam went up to the garden rooftop as usual. This time, though, Grandma Belle is nowhere to be found. She looked at every nook and cranny. She looked if she was behind the rows of pottery. Maybe she's behind the leafy vines? Alas, she can't be found and there really isn't anywhere to hide on the rooftop. Grandma Belle usually doesn't like to go out unless she has to so she thought that the only other place she could be is in her apartment.
She went down the stairs and, indeed, found the door to Grandma Belle's apartment closed. She hears some kind of moaning sound. She knocks on the door and calls out for her, Grandma! Grandma!
She listens and hears something like she's being called to come in. She checks on the doorknob and finds that it is not locked. She has been to her apartment before so she went in. She takes a deep breath, half-expecting Grandma Belle lying in the middle of the living room gasping for air, unconscious or dying.
Fortunately, there was no such sight to horrify her. She did hear a voice from the bathroom calling to her. She goes in and takes slow steps toward the bathroom. Thoughts of terror are running in her head again. She was only delaying the inevitable she thought. She sees that the bathroom door was ajar.
Pam calls out with a soft whisper,
Pam? Pam? Is that you? Ohhh Grandma Belle cries out.
Pam slowly pushes the door open and holds her breath at the sight before her. It was not anything terrifying as she had feared but still made her heart beat fast. There was Grandma Belle looking ragged and wearing only a sleeping gown and bathrobe. She was sitting on the toilet and looked as if she went through hell. She looked at Pam and smiled weakly but her feelings were lifted with happiness.
Oh, Pam, I'm so sorry, she said. There were tears rolling down her eyes.
Wh-why should you be so sorry? Pam asked. She was very confused. Grandma Belle had not ever done anything wrong to her. Then, her gaze falls to the floor. The white tiles were pockmarked with little red spots. Could it be? Is it... blood?
She now notices that the handkerchief Grandma Belle was holding is also tainted with blood. It hits her so fast she starts thinking if she had ever noticed anything from previous days before, even months.
Ar-are you sick? Pam felt as if there's a lump in her throat when she said that.
Grandma Belle holds her hand and brings it to her face. Tears continued streaming down her cheeks. She buries her face in her own hands and sobbed. She wailed, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me!
This was not making sense. She's sick. What was there to be so sorry about? Pam hugged the old woman and stroked her hand on the old woman's back. This seemed to have soothed her a bit. Pam felt rather awkward at the whole situation.
It's going to be okay. Whatever it is. This was all she could say and she curses herself for feeling so helpless.
Later, she helped Grandma Belle get to the bedroom. After making sure the old woman is tucked in her blanket, she decides to get some rest herself. She laid on the sofa but soon found out she couldn't get some sleep of her own. The day's events have got her thinking.
She got up and started looking around the room. There were some papers and envelopes on the coffee table but they turned out to be bills and junk mail. She feels guilty for snooping around Grandma Belle's apartment. She thinks that it might be best to wait and ask so she just looks at what few pictures there are.
All the pictures on the wall, even the ones on the coffee table and photo albums were old. Maybe ten or so years old from what she could tell. Grandma Belle did mention that she had grandchildren from her own blood. Also, she had never said that any of her children died, only her husband. Why were there no current pictures and why had none of her relatives ever visited her? So many questions but no answers.
***
At the base camp, Col. Paez is in his trailer having his dinner. Right now, he is angry and frustrated that the Brazilians are looking like a bunch of fools in this affair. Pebblewyrm got what he wanted. His team is now making their way somewhere in the jungle. It's hard to believe that the president would let the Americans humiliate them. The least he could have done was send some of his own men along.
Damn him.
Angry thoughts still flowed in his head when somebody knocked on his door. Irritation came quickly. He wonders what could go so wrong now.
Come in.
A wiry looking corporal came in. He had a worried look on his face. He fumbled as he almost forgot military protocol. He salutes his colonel.
Paez has very little patience right now, Speak up! What have you to report?
Uh, sir, some of our men saw something flying in the sky. It was huge. We didn't see it on our radar, the corporal was very nervous.
Maybe it was just some big bird or a bat, Paez said.
Umm, no, sir. It was very big. It just flew over our camp so fast we didn't have time to shoot it. It must be some spirit come to punish us. The men are scared.
Superstitious nonsense! Paez stood up and stormed out of his trailer. The corporal followed him and almost fell on the steps.
Paez sees many of his men scattered about. They are all looking up in the sky and ready to shoot at anything. He also looked up in the night sky and noted the full moon. He wonders if Pebblewyrm had anything to do with what's going on right now. Damn that man!
Where the hell is Pebblewyrm? Paez asked.
What in the world is going on, Colonel? What's all this commotion? a voice bellowed from behind him. It was Pebblewyrm.
I was thinking of asking you those questions! Paez thought.
He didn't answer the general's questions. Let him suffer his contempt for him.
Pebblewyrm is fuming, Answer me, dammit!
It was a spirit of the forest come to warn us to keep away, Paez replied, My men said that it flew over the camp.
That's a load of crap! There are no such things as forest spirits.
It was invisible to radar but not to sight.
Pebblewyrm now looks intrigued and then asks, Why didn't you go after it?
My men are too afraid. Perhaps you or your men would like to volunteer?
Bah! Whatever it was is long gone now.
Fuming, Pebblewyrm goes back to his trailer. He mutters something about South Americans being superstitious fools. Paez believes the general is thinking that he's as much a fool as the rest of his own men. That's just fine, Paez thought, at least he wouldn't suspect anything should he gain some upper hand knowledge. Maybe there's still some way to salvage the Brazilian army's reputation.
Sir, what do we do now? his corporal asked.
Paez loses his train of thought, Increase perimeter patrol. Keep an eye out for that thing. If they spot it again, shoot but don't kill it. I want to see the thing for myself.
He takes a cigarette out of his packet and lights it up. He takes a deep puff and slowly exhales. The corporal is still with him and sporting a worried look. A feeling of great irritation quickly wells up in his heart.
I don't care what the men think! Anyone who does not follow my orders gets court-martialed!
Realizing he has little choice, the corporal ran to give out the orders. Paez does not doubt for a moment that they had an infiltrator. He wonders if its from Pebblewyrm's camp. It seems doubtful, though. He's already sent in his own men. If he had other motives, why bother with another group of infiltrators? It could be Poison Ivy calling in for help. Yes, that seems more likely but her file says she works alone. So who else? Is it an interested third party? The only other people with a stake in all this is WayneTech.
Yes!
***
The flight over the base camp exhilarated Terry. It seems guilty pleasure but he had to admit it was a kind of rush to see people confused and panicked. Bruce would knock his head over for this. He could have gone invisible, of course. The downside is that he would have used up his battery reserves.
You're about eight kilometers away from the pod. You have better start your descent, Bruce's voice squeaked through the earpieces of his headgear.
Terry cuts down his thrusters. His speed slowly decelerates and his altitude lowers. He looks at the sight below him. It is dark. He whizzes past by all the trees. They all look the same to him. Thoughts run through his mind. How easy it is still to get lost even though he is flying. Gotham has many buildings but all he needs is to find one single familiar landmark and he's on his way. Here, he might have to look for the single tallest tree or look for the nearest river.
The trees' branches seem to get in each other's way. Finding a spot through them is a problem, even if he has night vision. Another problem is landing without getting hit by any stray branch or losing his footing on the way down. I've had rougher landings before.
As he begins his landing on the canopy, his left foot hits one of the branches. It was just a small slap. He is thankful it was only a small branch or else he would have to contend with a broken leg. He quickly spots an entrance through the canopy. Relieved he need not have to worry after all, Terry dove through the hole. What he got was not what he was expecting.
Branches were everywhere. They were hitting him on all sides. It was a big mistake to swoop down and then fly straight. Realizing this, Terry corrects his error. He cuts down his thrusters and let his wings slowly glide him on the way down. He curses himself. This shouldn't have happened. He's way better than this.
Not one of my days I guess.
He lands on the jungle floor. He checks himself out for any injuries. There were none. A thought crosses his mind about telling Bruce to make some necessary improvements on the suit. Maybe something that will allow him to hover. It is still using technology made some ten years ago. State-of-the-art then, now he's had enemies better equipped than he is. Then again, Bruce will tell him something like being resourceful and about relying on mind and body over technology.
Now that he has passed through the base camp, he must now contact Bruce. In order to avoid their communication link from being detected, they are using a special ultra-low radio frequency. That's about as far Bruce would go high-tech for.
Bruce, can you read me?
I read you loud and clear. Try to avoid using our names tonight. We don't want to draw undue attention now, do we? Bruce replied.
Yes sir. So what'll it be? You're Big Daddy Bat and I'm Li'l Bat?
That'll do, I suppose. I'm picking out the heat signature of Pebblewyrm's team. They're about five miles northwest from you. That's not far. I hope your landing didn't cause too much of a commotion.
Terry feels guilty and surprised, So, you, um, knew about that. What gave that away?
I can see your signal whiz unevenly on the map display. That and I heard you cry ouch.
Ouch. Touché, Bruce.
Alright, I'm on my way.
***
Six men make their way through the jungle. The darkness does not impede them. They are personally handpicked by Gen. Pebblewyrm from the US Army's various Special Forces.
Lt. Butch Lukic, squad leader and Delta Force; Sgt. Harold Pogue, the brawny black man whom Terry made mad earlier; and the rest, Strathmore, demolitions expert; Madrigal, communications and technical whiz; Caulfield, Green Beret; and Mason, superb marksman. They were the best crack team of military specialists assembled.
Madrigal receives a transmission from base camp. He signals the others to pause and huddle together. He wipes his mouth, a habit he does when thinking of what to say first. Looking at his teammates, he breaks the news, I just got word from the general. He told us to expect company.
Anyone in particular? asked Lt. Lukic.
They don't know. They just told us to watch out for big black flying thing. Seems like there was a commotion back there.
It must be a small, fast and low-flying plane.
And it evaded their radar.
And if it's a plane, what's it gonna do? Bomb the pod? Spore attack will bring it down sooner, Mason commented.
The lieutenant asks Madrigal another question, What about infrared? Can this thing be tracked by our satellite's infrared system?
Damn. Alright, we are facing a very resourceful opponent. From this point on, proceed with extra caution.
He'll be the one needing all the caution he needs when he meets up with me, Pogue bragged.
The team proceeds onward. A few of them smirk at how Pogue could possibly think there's only one intruder. How does he know? They wonder. Pogue is not ignorant of their thoughts of him. He gives back a deep stare at his teammates. His eyes give that fiery look and a big grin crosses his lips. He looks so evil. Each man begins to think that maybe they shouldn't be thinking what they're thinking of him right now. The man looks like he's ready to kill them.
I just know. I just know he's all alone out there and I can't wait to meet him, he finally said.
Silence passes.
Pogue gets up and marches on. Except for Lt. Lukic, who knew him way before then, all his teammates breathed a sigh of relief. They silently cursed at Pogue for giving them a scare like that.
***
He's out there somewhere. What's taking him so long?!
Poison Ivy paces around the laboratory. Her impatience is growing. For sure, Batman will be there again to stop her plans like always. Is there no escaping from him? Must he always foil her plans? A rage builds up inside her and she stops walking. A grimace shows on her face. Her teeth gritting and finally she takes a deep breath.
She exhales slowly. It's not possible. Of course not, it has been about fifteen years since they last squared off with each other. He would be a decrepit old man while she is forever young. How foolish of her to think he would still be able to stop her. His young pup could not stand a chance against her. Oh, yes.
Ramon sees his mistress appear to be angry and irritated and, then, she suddenly laughs off with evil glee. He was roused from his sleep by the noise of her walking around. He had not had much rest and suspects he won't have any more till all is over. He releases a breath of exasperation.
Unable to sleep anymore, he gets up and climbs up the lattice work of vines. The crack of dawn has come. This gives him what little light it could offer. Despite his age, he is still able to climb with relative ease. He smiles at the fact he is able to put the younger soldiers to shame, mind-controlled drones they may be. It was all the satisfaction he was going to get.
Suddenly, a loud crack of noise echoed in the distance. More soldiers making their way through the jungle perhaps? They're the only ones coming anyway. He begins to climb down to tell his mistress. He stopped when he felt her presence behind him. He slowly turns his head around. It's her alright.
He tells her, Ma'am, more soldiers.
Poison Ivy shakes her head no and with an evil grin says, No, not soldiers. It has to be Batman's lapdog come after me. I know it!
If Ramon had a more extensive vocabulary, he would have chosen paranoid to describe Poison Ivy. The longer she proceeded with her plans the more unstable she is becoming. He only hopes that when the proverbial dirt hits the fan, he won't suffer for his involvement. May the gods have mercy on me, he thought.
Come. Let us prepare our welcome for him! Poison Ivy tells him as she slides down one of the vines.
Ramon closes his eyes and sighs. He follows her on the way down. He begins to think of what he has to lose for his involvement in all this.